Heidi Stewart

Heidi Stewart describes death as nothingness. She did not hover above her body, or walk through a tunnel of light. It was as though the 18-year-old simply went to sleep and never dreamt. Except, when she awoke on the office floor at Evergreen High School, she was terrified, sad and in pain.

The high school senior suffered sudden cardiac arrest at school Feb. 12 and was later diagnosed with a rare heart condition, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy, found in 1 out of every 5,000 people in the U.S.